Just in case you haven’t seen this somewhere else, the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen granted NorthSide Regeneration, LLC development rights for a significant area of North St. Louis City. The vote empowers McKee to seek $20M in state tax credits before the end of 2009. Any TIF for NorthSide will require the passage of an additional bill.
Antonio French via Twitter said, “McKee bill passed BoA today. Ald. Kennedy and I voted against it because of McKee’s treatment of the community. We were the only 2 no votes.” Later on KMOX French characterized his vote, and that of Alderman Kennedy, as “symbolic,” stating that other companies are buying a large number of lots across North St. Louis and that they should not assume that any development plan will be easily approved.
It’s assumed that a TIF bill will come soon and again on KMOX French stated that an initial TIF for $200M would pass easily, unless the City is asked to guarantee the TIF. Any guarantee is seen as unlikely. Past city-backed TIFs have been for a fraction of that and each has left the city on the hook when the development failed to meet expectations.
